BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit from young climate activists seeking to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders promoting fossil fuels and discouraging renewable energy.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said the plaintiffs showed overwhelming evidence climate change affects them and that it will worsen as a result of Trump’s orders.

But Christensen concluded their request for the courts to intervene was “unworkable” because it was beyond the power of the judiciary to create environmental policies.

The 22 plaintiffs included youths who prevailed in a landmark climate trial against the state of Montana in 2023. During a two-day hearing last month in Missoula, the activists and experts who testified on their behalf described Trump’s actions to boost drilling and mining and discourage renewable energy as a growing danger to children and the planet.

A United Nations agency said on Wednesday that heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, “turbo-charging” the climate and making weather more extreme.

Legal experts said the young activists and their lawyers from the environmental group Our Children’s Trust faced long odds in the federal case. The Montana state constitution declares that people have a “right to a clean and healthful environment,” but that language is absent from the U.S. Constitution.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Wednesday’s ruling marked a victory for the administration and voters who supported its agenda to create American “energy dominance” by producing more fossil fuels.